Tiverton files restraining order against Site-Ready Materials

The town of Tiverton has filed a temporary restraining order in Newport County Superior Court against Site-Ready Materials, asking that the court declare the company’s alleged quarrying activities and its acceptance and transfer of Fall River municipal solid waste and single-stream recyclables to be in violation of town ordinances.

The town of Tiverton has filed a temporary restraining order in Newport County Superior Court against Site-Ready Materials, asking that the court declare the company’s alleged quarrying activities and its acceptance and transfer of Fall River municipal solid waste and single-stream recyclables to be in violation of town ordinances.

The town has asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction against Site-Ready from continuing those activities and to penalize the company $500 per day for the alleged violations. A hearing on the matter has been scheduled for Friday at the Murray Judicial Complex in Newport, R.I.

In a lawsuit filed on Monday, the town states that Site-Ready’s current activities are not only unauthorized, but they pose “a threat to the public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the town of Tiverton.”

The town accuses Site-Ready of failing to seek or obtain prior approval from both the Tiverton planning and zoning boards for its municipal solid waste and single-stream recycling transfer operations.

The town’s court filing also states that Site-Ready’s location at 322 Eagleville Road — within the Stafford Pond Watershed Protection Overlay District — would require a special use permit from the town.

While Site-Ready has obtained permits from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to compost on site, the company again did not seek town approval for that operation either, according to court papers.

Furthermore, the defendants had “refused to permit an inspection of the property, despite a request from the Town to do so.”

Stafford Pond “is the sole source of potable water for many of the town’s residents and, through interconnections, the emergency source of water for Aquidneck Island and Fall River, Mass.,” the court papers say.

Site-Ready’s attorney Eric Brainsky said his client was served at 9 p.m. Tuesday with court papers, and the company has been “absolutely” compliant with town zoning regulations.

Brainsky said that discussion of evidence would “be hashed out in the discovery process” and that its counter argument would include “prior determinations” and statements made by current Tiverton zoning official Gareth Eames that Site-Ready’s operations have complied with zoning laws.

“My client and their corporate entities will be counter-claiming this lawsuit and seeking damages against the town,” Brainsky said. “We feel that our constitutional rights are being violated by the town.”

Brainsky listed those rights as due process and retaliation “for trying to exercise our property rights.”